The normalisation of the far-right continues

[Fullerene]

15 hours ago, Brother Blades said:

Scurvy & rickets in 2023, what a wonderful country we live in! 

This never happened during the war when we had rationing.

The obvious solution is to go to war again.  Any suggestions?

[coprolite]

16 minutes ago, Fullerene said:

This never happened during the war when we had rationing.

The obvious solution is to go to war again.  Any suggestions?

I thought we were still at war with drugs? 

[Granny Danger]

3 hours ago, Fullerene said:

This never happened during the war when we had rationing.

The obvious solution is to go to war again.  Any suggestions?

Malta.  It’s a no brainier.

[dirty dingus]

4 hours ago, Fullerene said:

This never happened during the war when we had rationing.

The obvious solution is to go to war again.  Any suggestions?

Orkney Islands. They've been getting a wee bit wide.

[welshbairn]

4 hours ago, coprolite said:

I thought we were still at war with drugs? 

It's war on drugs, the only way I'd take part in one. 

[Boo Khaki]

5 hours ago, Fullerene said:

This never happened during the war when we had rationing.

The obvious solution is to go to war again.  Any suggestions?

Russia. 

Anyone else and UEFA will punt us right in the middle of our most promising quali campaign in decades.

[BFTD]

4 hours ago, coprolite said:

I thought we were still at war with drugs? 

And terror. Terror drugs.

Apparently keeping a good chunk of the population terrified that bills will go up again is the good type of terror, though.

[StellarHibee]

6 hours ago, Fullerene said:

This never happened during the war when we had rationing.

The obvious solution is to go to war again.  Any suggestions?

Iran's been quiet lately.

Too quiet.

They must be up to something.

Occupy the territory in the name of "freedom".

[Salt n Vinegar]

No need to go to war to shore up the Tory vote... Just cut taxes....

From https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/downing-street-inheritance-tax-tory-election-manifesto-b2375769.html

"Downing Street is reportedly holding talks about scrapping inheritance tax as a manifesto offering in a bid to win the next election.

No 10 was said to be discussing whether to make abolishing the levy a commitment to shore up votes in so-called “blue wall” seats in 2025.

Supporters argue that the policy could be a “gamechanger” in the south of England where the Conservatives are defending constituencies vulnerable to gains from opposition parties, according to the paper."

The next election is by no means a foregone conclusion especially as the Blessed Keir seems to be having Union trouble over pay.

EDIT - in 2022/23, Inheritance Tax raised about 7 billion quid. Seven billion. Whatever the country needs, it certainly isn't reducing the funds available for public services by 7 billion quid.

Edited July 15, 2023 by Salt n Vinegar

[Suspect Device]

Cut a tax that only the very rich would have to pay? Is that really a vote winner?

https://advisingfamilies.org/uk/information-portal/life-after-death/inheritance-tax-explained/?gclid=CjwKCAjwh8mlBhB_EiwAsztdBDe2EmE_Yi0mztzgXUqORHHoi96KY9-zUwh2GDPvrpJUEVFJY-7LqBoCXUAQAvD_BwE

[Salt n Vinegar]

1 hour ago, Suspect Device said:

Cut a tax that only the very rich would have to pay? Is that really a vote winner?

https://advisingfamilies.org/uk/information-portal/life-after-death/inheritance-tax-explained/?gclid=CjwKCAjwh8mlBhB_EiwAsztdBDe2EmE_Yi0mztzgXUqORHHoi96KY9-zUwh2GDPvrpJUEVFJY-7LqBoCXUAQAvD_BwE

It is if you're a Tory!

[StellarHibee]

Playing to the greed of the wealthy to shore up their votes. Works everytime with this lot unfortunately. Fully expect Starmer to step in now with an even better offer for them.

[Suspect Device]

1 hour ago, Salt n Vinegar said:

It is if you're a Tory!

It shouldn't make much difference.

I get it that Tories would be innately selfish but inheritance tax is only paid by about 5% of the population. Even with the increase in property prices (which may be getting a shock soon) you can give your kids or grandkids up to £1m. How many ordinary people does that affect?

Of course they could just have an aversion to any kind of tax and not really care about how we pay for public services. Then promptly moan about the lack of services when they are in need of them. NHS, child care, elderly care etc.

[Highlandmagar]

1 minute ago, orfc said:

God, when you sit down and imagine all the extreme things that Starmer could possibly do (but is very unlikely to) he really is a terrible man, practically Hitler . I imagine he's probably thinking of a way to electrify the english channel to stop migrants, and of shutting down basic health services so you resort to pulling out your own teeth on TikTok. Vote Tory!

No need to vote Tory. Labour will do their dirty work. Only better.

[coprolite]

7 minutes ago, orfc said:

God, when you sit down and imagine all the extreme things that Starmer could possibly do (but is very unlikely to) he really is a terrible man, practically Hitler . I imagine he's probably thinking of a way to electrify the english channel to stop migrants, and of shutting down basic health services so you resort to pulling out your own teeth on TikTok. Vote Tory!

Rishi’s or Kier’s?

[Salt n Vinegar]

4 minutes ago, Suspect Device said:

It shouldn't make much difference.

I get it that Tories would be innately selfish but inheritance tax is only paid by about 5% of the population. Even with the increase in property prices (which may be getting a shock soon) you can give your kids or grandkids up to £1m. How many ordinary people does that affect?

Of course they could just have an aversion to any kind of tax and not really care about how we pay for public services. Then promptly moan about the lack of services when they are in need of them. NHS, child care, elderly care etc.

But this is the mental thing.  I can almost understand a desire to cut tax if there is headroom in the public finances and there is a genuine choice about investing more in public services or cutting tax. But to cut tax when the public finances are Donald Ducked and the country (rUK) is riven with industrial strife?

The party of sound finance my ar$e!

[coprolite]

31 minutes ago, Suspect Device said:

It shouldn't make much difference.

I get it that Tories would be innately selfish but inheritance tax is only paid by about 5% of the population. Even with the increase in property prices (which may be getting a shock soon) you can give your kids or grandkids up to £1m. How many ordinary people does that affect?

Of course they could just have an aversion to any kind of tax and not really care about how we pay for public services. Then promptly moan about the lack of services when they are in need of them. NHS, child care, elderly care etc.

It’s aspirational 

People don’t necessarily vote for what’s actually best for them but for what they think will be best for them in their own deluded fantasies.

Lots of stupid people think that they will become very wealthy simply by owning increasingly expensive houses and are too stupid to realise that they might not do that, and even if they do they’ll take on increasingly large mortgages that would also come out of their estate. 

There are millions of stupid people and stupid people are disproportionately likely to vote Tory.

Low income workers in Basildon and East Grinstead will vote for this despite having a minuscule chance of it saving them money just because they can picture themselves living in a mansion.

[BFTD]

Presumably ending inheritance tax will be massively popular with the wealthy, who will put their money and influence into getting the Tories back in. Although frankly, I think the idea still is that the government is well aware that the next decade (at least) is going to be an unmanageable nightmare by their own design, so the only option is to allow the other lot in for a while to blame them for it all. In that situation, you might as well slash all the taxes for yourselves and your mates - it'll only help with being kicked out of office, and give yourself a wee financial boost in the short amount of time before you have to find a new "job".

I've seen an end to inheritance tax being framed as a positive for everyone recently, so no doubt there'll be plenty of eejits who'll vote for it to protect the pot they barely have to piss in, totally unaware that they'll never establish any kind of wealth that the government would consider worth taking from their children. It's entirely - entirely - a tax cut for the wealthy, and an excuse to avoid paying for the services poorer people rely on to live.

[parsforlife]

I think there’s also a fairly big misunderstanding that the tories will play into that inheritance tax is payed by everyone and HMRC regularly turn up to kick widows out of their 1 bed ex council house in order to get their tax.

[StellarHibee]

36 minutes ago, coprolite said:

It’s aspirational 

People don’t necessarily vote for what’s actually best for them but for what they think will be best for them in their own deluded fantasies.

Lots of stupid people think that they will become very wealthy simply by owning increasingly expensive houses and are too stupid to realise that they might not do that, and even if they do they’ll take on increasingly large mortgages that would also come out of their estate. 

There are millions of stupid people and stupid people are disproportionately likely to vote Tory.

Low income workers in Basildon and East Grinstead will vote for this despite having a minuscule chance of it saving them money just because they can picture themselves living in a mansion.

To be fair, all of these stupid people who vote tory are equally as stupid when it comes to voting for Labour, whenever they out tory the tories.

Hey, wait a minute. That's not fair at all!